1.11.2012

Like sands through the hourglass.


Leaving the blog alone for a month was a very, very bad idea. You see, November and December were big months. Big months that I did not document with a camera, nor with the blog, nor with much of anything. Failure.

First, Thanksgiving happened. This crew--featuring special guests P, N, L, & ?--partied, and we partied hard.

Apologies to Brooke for stealing photos. It will . . . probably happen again.

How hard? Well, we obliterated a bunch of eight-year-old in some intense rounds of laser tag. That's how hard. We managed to throw together a truly scrumptious Thanksgiving feast; P-dids even got to decimate an incredibly large turkey leg, which was indeed memorable to behold. Other activities included way too many board games, consuming copious amounts of food, adventures in DC, and lots of talking about our feelings. (That part is my favorite.)

 Then, Papa Bear came for a visit. And the peasants rejoiced!

Kool and the Gang

Papanwa treated us to a feast at Bilbo Baggins, which is a delicious haven we discovered many moons ago. We also got to see the crazy fantastic National Botanic Gardens holiday exhibit. The exhibit was great, but Ben's wild enthusiasm for said exhibit was far greater.

Liam's enthusiasm was less than wild--he was a bit under the weather.

And then, we celebrated David's birthday! We enjoyed a delicious sushi lunch and a movie with David's parents to celebrate, followed by our ward Christmas party. My birthday gift to David was not making the entire ward sing the birthday song to him. Touching, right? Here is the picture I didn't take of the illustrious birthday celebrations:










 David's even cuter in person. 
And how awesome are Scott and Kari? Beyond awesome.

The Christmas season then ramped up to full swing. We opted to stay in MD for a quiet, peaceful holiday season. And boy, what a splendid season it was. We had lots of awesome playtime with David's parents and his two visiting siblings, C and K. We also reunited with local and far away friends. We were well and truly spoiled, and I am still recovering from the amazing food we ate. We saw lots of great movies, played games, and talked about our feelings. (Again! YES!) And of course, a major highlight: a mass video chat with Elder Little Baby Jordan.

Huzzah for LBJ!



2011 was an incredible year, and I am thankful that we got to fill it to the brim with so much family time.

Here's to a wonderful 2012.

Take that, fake Mayan prophecies.